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It is most definitely fun! And as much as there is to learn about this art form, I will probably still be learning in 10 years
I tried to see how I would do with painting over a Daz character. I used Nino with Cage Casual Waves hair and Knight of Valor clothing. After rendering, I drew line art and painted over everything. Alas, my lineart skills are very limited. I need to practice to get smoother lines. I was unable to get a good result by drawing or painting over the face, so I used a filter and didn't touch the face. The background version is there because it seems to hide my terrible lineart lol.
That's a very cool idea! The line art isn't THAT bad and its just practice, as with anything else.
Thank you :) If you look at it larger, the line art is quite jaggy. But as you say, practice makes perfect (hopefully)! It's a bit different drawing on a tablet than on paper too, so gotta get more used to that.
I tried ghost lights 2. My first attempt was a fail due to user error only. I still like how the character's face came out with the strong lights though. Interesting how light direction really impacts a character's looks.
My second attempt, wherein I moved the ghost lights away, came out good. I do need to read the read me regarding the product because I just haphazardly used it.
My third pic is the render above layered over a 2D picture with some post work on the background but none on the character.
I put the last one in my gallery but could not figure out how to bring the image from the gallery here to the forum so I had to re-attach it. If anyone knows a better way to save Daz's server space, please let me know.
I like the first image better than the second. For the third I would have used the 2d picture in the Environment/Backdrop with your figure and got the lighting to match the photograph then rendered it all together. The figure layered on the picture doesn't look quite right as the lighting is not the same.
Good work. I would do the fireplace ghostlights on the floor as on the 1st picture and get that firelit look coming from behind and lower than your model.
@Fishtales - I'd never thought of doing that, it's a great idea. I wish I'd saved the scene so I could try it. One question, if I used the picture as the backdrop, wouldn't it all be on a plane behind her? How would I make it look liks she is sitting on that livingroom floor? Sorry if that is a silly or too basic question, I just haven't ever done it before. Like you, I really liked how her face came out with the first lighting, except of course I don't think the lighting was supposed to show, lol That part was a mistake.
@nonesuch00 - thank you. I'm very happy I am finally able to render some images that are not too embarrassing to show, lol. I too liked the light coming from below but since the light plane (not sure what to call it) showed, I thought perhaps I did it wrong and moved it up and out. Next time I will try lighting from below the floor.
I just tried Bitwelder's Medieval Castle and wanted to say it is fantabulous. I didn't have time to play around with it, but did a quick test. I haven't added lighting, or done anything at all to it. It rendered in 1 minute 38 seconds. Can't wait to try to add figures etc. I'm posting it up in case anyone is on the fence about getting it in today's sale.
@Worlds_Edge
When using the Backdrop with a 2d image I set the ground in the Environment Tab to Manual. When you move the camera the floor angle changes in relation to the image. It takes a bit of moving and zooming the camera to get the figure in the position you want it but when rendered it looks a bit better than compositing the render on top of the image in post.
This uses one of my own pictures.
Click on image for full size.
These are also using one of my pictures as a Backdrop.
I learned something new Fishtales thank you!
That castle looks great!
@fishtales - thank you, I will give your method a try :)
@ice dragon art - It does, and I literally did nothing but load it, pick a part/scene (as it comes with a lot of areas), and hit render. I'm very happy with my purchase!
I played with this render for hours, getting the character dressed and posed, and trying to make the lighting interesting. However I stopped before the render was done because I decided it was coming out flat. I think I need to work on composition (including kitbashing) and lighting skills. I fixed a few poke throughs in post work.
Its a nice render but I see what you mean. Maybe some stuff on the wall (paintings and mirrors are great to kit bash, check out some your interior room sets and see if there are any mirrors or paintings in them, you can always switch out whats in the frame with a different picture if they are separate in the surfaces tab). Or add a cat, or dog. I hate when I spend hours on something and something is just not..quite.. there lol.
Thanks for the encouragement @ice dragon art. It wasn't a complete waste of time as I learned a little bit about smoothing clothing (collision) in the process. Now that I look at the picture again, I think the posing is off too. There is something weird going on with the neck and chest, that I didn't even notice yesterday!
You don't have to have everything visible in the scene. At the moment it all seems to be crammed in the centre. Moving the shelving to the right so that it is only partially visible, move the plant behind the setee to the left so it is just the top that is visible and a painting or mirror on the wall behind to give the scene more depth, might work.
I finally wizened up and started to save even renders that were not pleasing to me. That way, when you guys give advice, I'm able to go back and employ some of your tips and learn from them on the same render rather than keeping the advice for future use.I re-did the scene, adding mirrors, moving furniture etc and like the composition better, so thank you @ice dragon art and @fishtales. I still need to fix (1) overexposure, (2) probably pull back the camera/zoom a sit feels a bit closterphobic, (3) give the male character an expression. I think I can manage these edits.
The glass I selected was supposed to have a stem but does not appear to have one. I had a hard time posing the hand to look like it was closed around a stem, and I think I can fake a stem in post work.
One problem I have no idea how to deal with is that extra triangle of material next to the male character's leg. First I thought it was an extra pillow of a different color. Then it turned out that it might be his pants, even though the pants are conformed to his body. When I move his leg, the material disappears for a few seconds, and then it is back. Would love to hear how to fix this, or what is causing this. Alternatively, I may need to repose him I guess.
If you have any ideas on further ways I can improve the scene, do let me know.
Okay, I managed to fix a lot of things. I took away one set of mirrors to make it look less cluttered. The overexposure is fixed. I had to change his pants to a new pair to get rid of the weird uncooperative triangle - I have no idea why I had the issue. I gave him an expression (preset) and edited it by opening his eyes wider. I think the way he is looking at the bot isn't convincing but I'll have to figure out what I don't like about it. Next, I will do some post work on the clothing tear-throughs, add a stem to the glass the bot is holding, and maybe try to fix his color. He looks a little too yellow/gold to me.
Were you using a smoothing modifier on the original pants? sometimes if its set too high you will get that weird, my clothes are blowing up and flying off stuff. Other than that, I got nothing lol.
My only other recommendation would be to maybe move the large potted plant to the empty spot on the left of the wall to fill in that space a little bit and balance it out a hair more. Otherwise, I think you have made some really good changes.
Try to eliminate the space to the left. I have cropped your original image to illustrate what I mean.
Thanks for your invaluable input @ice dragon art and @fishtales
Yes I used a smoothing modifier or collision something or other to try to get the shirt over the pants. Now I don't remember which item I used it on, but if you've had clothing blow ups because of using that utility, I think you solved my mystery. And I thought I was being so smart figuring out how to get the shirt to lay over the pants with hardly any poke throughs (it is a gen 3 F shirt).
I think I will use cropping to correct the barrenness of the left side. I agree with both of you. I think I was trying to go for a bit of asymetry but in this case it didn't work well.
You can try parenting or fitting the shirt to the pants, sometimes that will work for what you were trying, or, you can just try reducing the smoothing a tiny bit at a time and see if you can find the balance that works.
I didn't know you could "fit to" or parent one piece of clothing to another. I'll give that a try the next time putting a shirt over or under pants becomes an issue. Thank you :)
Woot, I finally got a chance to try out @Serene Night's tutorial on how to make tears in photoshop. Ly Leonine Pro HDRI lights really helped my render, I think. I adore this elf character!
Your Elf character looks really great!
About your dude on the red sofa - I'd suggest that you move the bot either away from the sofa a bit to give the image more balance, or either zoom in your character into the scene more and cut out the dead space of the floor and the wall (or just crop it away.) I agree with you the character looks a little gold but you can check your lights to see if one of them is yellow / orange, or play around with the diffuse colour of his skin and change the tint slightly. Then also see if there are morphs to move his shirt up a little so that they don't mesh into the pants.
Thank you @PandaB5. The character is Galan, and really all I did was add the hair. I'm terrible at lighting, but the Ly Leonine lights seem to have worked really well on him. In fact, the character on the red sofa is the same character, but without the ears and with different hair! Look how good his skin color turned out here on the elf compared to on the sofa. I'm going to try the Ly lights on other renders, they may be my lifesafer yet!
As for the sofa scene, I went ahead and cropped it as suggestec by you and others. I had to fix the clothing in post work because nothing that I tried worked perfectly. In fact, I had to change the pants altogether because I must have smoothed etc too much and the pants started "blowing up" on me. I had to give up, but I will play more with clothing till I get it right. One thing that didn't help was I used a shirt that is for g3f - which probably made it that much more complicated for me.
Really great job on the tears! I haven't had time to try her tutorial yet but you did a great job!
Thanks @ice dragon, Serene's instructions were very clear and easy to follow. I admit that I jumped the gun in excitement that I was done and it looked pretty good, and failed to note her final advice to add a white highlight over the eyes to make them pop. I did that now in my unposted version and it looks even better. I also think the light set that I used helped me a lot. I have to see what else I can use it on.
Nice job with those tears World's Edge! Those look great! =-)
All thanks to you :)